Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto called on Friday for a stronger naval presence in the Red Sea to escort merchant ships as tensions rise around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Italy already takes part in the EU’s Aspides mission, launched in 2024 to protect shipping; on Thursday Rome said it was also preparing a national mission rather than wait for a European response.

Crosetto told Reuters that after Thursday’s remarks “something moved” inside Aspides, but that more ships were still needed. He said that, in practice, only Italy and Greece were really supporting the security effort and declined to estimate how many vessels would be enough. He did not spell out which Italian navy assets might be sent.

Bab el-Mandeb is about 29 kilometres wide at its narrowest point and links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Goods and energy moving from Asia to Europe through the Suez Canal pass this way. Kpler data cited by Reuters show petroleum volumes transiting the strait in June amounted to about 7% of global oil output. Shipowners’ association Assarmatori estimates that roughly 40% of Italy’s trade with the rest of the world uses the Suez route.

The immediate context includes Houthi advances along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, on top of disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. A larger naval presence may reduce risk to crews, but it does not close the waterway or cancel the cost of a Cape of Good Hope diversion.

Any national deployment remains, in the minister’s words, a developing situation to be assessed with the government and parliament. Assarmatori president Stefano Messina welcomed the move and said the Italian navy could operate while the EU decides on Aspides. Composition, mandate and timetable are not yet public.

For importers and consumers the stake is the flow of ships, not a military headline. Without hulls, numbers and rules of engagement, the statement is a political signal: Rome wants to protect Italian traffic and is asking allies for more units in the Red Sea.

Image: ITS Cavour, Darwin, 9 July 2024 / Masonpj / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. An Italian ship in an Australian harbour, not the Red Sea operation. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Italy’s minister calls for more ships to protect Red Sea navigation | Reuters; EUNAVFOR Aspides | Council of the EU.